


Whatever You Want

by SassySnowperson (DramaticEntrance)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Age Difference, Alcohol, F/F, Parallel Experiences, Post-Canon, Time Frozen Character, and figuring out what they want, bitching about Skywalkers, women supporting each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-26 20:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18185180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DramaticEntrance/pseuds/SassySnowperson
Summary: Ahsoka returned to Malachor and slept. For nearly forty years."You don't look like the other statues," the woman mused, walking around Ahsoka. She wandered out of Ahsoka's line of sight; the three brown buns tied up in her hair was the last thing that Ahsoka saw.Ahsoka wanted to turn her head to follow, but she couldn't quite remember how to move. Something prodded her calf, and it was a shock, to remember she had a body. She tried to jump, to startle, even a twitch, but she couldn't remember how it worked.The woman circled back around, finding Ahoska's face. "Everyone else is just...stone. I'd swear you were alive."Ahsoka remembered how to blink.The woman screamed. And then bashed Ahsoka with a quarterstaff.





	Whatever You Want

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRaven/gifts).



> It was really fun to try to fit these two characters together! I hope you enjoy the results. 
> 
> Many thanks to my betas, without whom sentences would be a great deal more confusing.

Ahsoka stumbled through the portal and was back on Malachor, ruins of the temple all around her. She braced, half-expecting to find Vader. She didn't, and that was a relief. She also didn't find a clear exit, which was rather the opposite. 

Ahsoka picked her way through the darkened corridors, around shattered stones. She wasn't certain what her plan was, at this point. The ship was long gone. She didn't have a way off the planet. 

A cavern loomed, reeking of foreboding, with stairs leading deeper into the gloom of the temple. Not finding a better way to the surface, and not having any better ideas, Ahsoka picked her way down, down, into the dark. 

The dark was a pressing thing, she could almost feel it flicking along her skin. With every inhale she filled her lungs with it, she swore she could feel it creep inside her, not-quite-cold. It wasn't the Dark Side, it didn't feel evil or hostile, just...overwhelming. Powerful. 

Ahsoka turned back to the stairs. Maybe it would be better to go back, find another way. 

But she couldn't make herself turn. She couldn't move her feet at all. The dark pressed in, and she couldn't even bring herself to care as she slowly froze, half-twisted, looking back up at the light. The black crept in over her vision.

There was darkness. 

Then there was a woman.

She looked at Ahsoka curiously, head tipped to the side. There was something bird-like to her gestures, a little too quick and sharp. 

"You don't look like the other statues," the woman mused, walking around Ahsoka. She wandered out of Ahsoka's line of sight; the three brown buns tied up in her hair was the last thing that Ahsoka saw. 

Ahsoka wanted to turn her head to follow, but she couldn't quite remember how to move. Something prodded her calf, and it was a shock, to remember she had a body. She tried to jump, to startle, even a twitch, but she couldn't remember how it worked. 

The woman circled back around, finding Ahoska's face. "Everyone else is just...stone. I'd swear you were alive." 

Ahsoka remembered how to blink. 

The woman screamed. And then bashed Ahsoka with a quarterstaff. 

* * *

"I'm really sorry about that," Rey (Ahsoka had learned her name somewhere during the babbling apologies) said, pulling a therma-pack out of the medkit and setting it to cold. She handed it over to Ahsoka, who gratefully put the pack against her temple. "A suddenly-alive statue just seemed like one of those things you bash first, ask questions later." 

Ahsoka gave Rey a thin smile. "Those aren't terrible instincts," she said, settling herself and her aching temple back against the co-pilot's seat of the slim shuttle Rey was flying. "You woke me up, and you're getting me off of the planet. I think we can call it even." 

Ahsoka glanced around the cockpit, trying not to let her trouble show on her face. She didn't recognize the design. It had elements in common with the U-Wings Bail had found for the Rebellion. But it was...sleeker? And the control pattern was off. 

"Glad to hear it." Rey's smile came easily to her face. "Speaking of which...shall we? Or did you have unfinished business?" 

Something almost like suspicion crept into Rey's tone with that last sentence, and Ahsoka turned to her. Rey was staring her down with something of a challenge in her eyes. Internally, Ahsoka cursed herself. She was so happy to have a way off of Malachor, that it never occurred to her to wonder; what was Rey doing here? 

"I came here to try to find a way to defeat the Sith. I don't think I found it. But I'm not inclined to hang around," Ahsoka said carefully. 

Rey obviously relaxed. "Sounds good." She licked her lips and started the flight pattern. "I'm a history buff. Jedi history in particular. I took a lot of data readings of the temple before I found you. Maybe the thing you're looking for is in there? We can go over the data...somewhere else." 

"Somewhere else does sound good." Ahsoka settled back in the seat, casting another sideways glance at Rey. A history buff? Whose response to a statue coming to life was to thwack it over the head with a stick? 

Something felt off, but nothing felt wrong, so Ahsoka didn't press further. She also couldn't stop the little shudder of relief as they broke atmosphere, leaving the planet that had trapped her behind. 

Rey was looking at her out of the corner of her eye. Ahsoka gave a wry smile. Her sabacc face clearly needed work. "Good to leave," Ahsoka explained. "So where are we headed?" 

"There's a planet a couple systems away, decent mid-sized city that serves as a local trading hub," Rey said, tapping in coordinates. "I figure that's a good place to stop and rest while you figure out where to go next." 

Ahsoka nodded. What contacts did she still have available to her? Could she find her Rebellion contacts? Where had Ezra gotten to? She had promised to find him, after all. 

Ahoska knew she was just dancing around the major question. She looked down again at the well-worn ship she almost recognized. 

How much time had passed? 

The stars blurred and started racing behind them. "How long…" Ahsoka couldn't bring herself to ask. "...is the flight?" 

"Just a couple hours."

Rey didn't seem inclined to chatter beyond that. She gave Ahsoka a sideways glance, then turned back to her console, running a system diagnostic. 

Still feeling an echo of the blankness in the black, Ahsoka was quiet herself, watching Rey watch the display. Questions jumbled through her mind. It was hard enough to put them in order, too hard to put them into words. 

It was an hour and forty-five minutes into their that Ahsoka found the clarity and the courage to ask, "So...what year is it?" 

Rey bit her lip, looking sideways at Ahsoka. "Sure you want to do this out now?"

"The question isn't going to get any less intimidating. And I think I'd rather have if figured out before we land."

"Fair enough." Rey nodded, took a breath, and then said, "Thirty-six." 

Ahsoka blinked. "Thirty-six...what?" 

"ABY? After the Battle of Yavin?" 

"After the what?"

"That's not good," was Rey's unhelpful opinion. 

"I know." Ahsoka tried not to snap. "Could I get that in ATC?" 

Rey screwed up her nose, thinking hard. "It's been awhile since…" She winced, looking sideways at Ahsoka. "36...89." 

Ahsoka doubled over in the chair. "Oh." 

Rey swallowed. "Bad news?" 

Ahsoka stared blankly at the console. Thirty-nine years. She had lost _thirty-nine years_. What did the galaxy even look like anymore? Was anyone she knew even alive? "I…need a drink." 

"I know a good bar. Drinks are on me." 

"You don't…" Ahsoka paused. "They probably assumed I was dead and closed my credit accounts." 

Rey flattened her lips. "Yeah. Though, there's been a lot of…" 

Ahsoka raised her hand. "Let's just...save this until I have some alcohol in front of me."

"Probably a good plan."

* * *

The next three hours were...unpleasant, but very educational. Ahsoka had thought that after walking away from the order and finding out that her best friend had become a nightmare in a mask that there was no mourning left in her. She was wrong. 

"I can't believe Alderaan is gone…" Ahsoka stared blankly at the half-full glass in front of her. For all that she had insisted on its presence, she could barely bring herself to drink it. She wanted to forget, but she needed to remember. 

Rey shifted uncomfortably. "Right afterward Luke Skywalker blew up it up!" she said, trying for reassuring. "I think the Emperor tried to build another one, but it never got that far. The Emperor died, blown up at the construction sight." 

Ahsoka barely heard the rest of the words, hung up on... "Luke _who?_ " 

Rey furrowed her brow. "Skywalker?" 

"Was he...do you know about his family?" Ahsoka stumbled over the words. 

"Yes! Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa were twins—" 

"Bail's kid?" Ahsoka gave Rey an incredulous look. "From Alderaan?" 

"Yes! She survived that, by the way. Went on to be a very well known senator." 

"She had a twin? Where was he?" 

"Tatooine. He was born right after the Jedi purge, and..." Rey wrinkled her nose. "Well, it's all in the history books now, you'll find out sooner or later. Their biological dad was Darth Vader. He was..." 

"I know more about Vader than you," Ahsoka's voice went harsh.

Rey didn't say anything with words. Her face, on the other hand, told an entire datadisc's worth of story, reading something along the lines of, 'You've been a statue for a long enough that you use a different calendar system. But sure, you're the expert.' 

Anakin had children. Bail's kid, who Ahsoka, ghosting into Alderaan's palace on furtive business, had seen as a blur through the hallways—she was _Anakin's kid._ Did Bail know? 

Had Anakin? 

Padme had died, after all. Her child with her, as far as anyone knew. If Anakin didn't know, and then he found out, he would have— 

"Who were you?" Rey asked, cutting across her thoughts. "These people, Luke and Leia and Vader, they're all legends, and you're taking this awfully personally."

Ahsoka ran her tongue over her teeth, tracing the outline of her fangs. "My name is Ahsoka Tano. I was—"

"Oh!" Rey cut her off, eyes going wide. "I've heard of you." 

The rest of Ahsoka's glass very slowly dwindled as Ahsoka sorted out who she had become in her absence—someone who saw the problems of the Jedi and who worked to solve them. Legend said she died fighting Vader, sacrificed herself so others could live. 

"Did you know?" Rey asked, a thread of something painful in her voice. "When you fought him? I've poured over the history books, but no one can say for sure. It's all just people arguing back and forth."

Ahsoka's fingers gripped her glass tighter. "I didn't know...until I fought him. I thought there was no way that the monster could be the man I knew, the Master that taught me, the person that loved me. No way. But there kept being hints. The way he felt in the Force. The way he fought. And then I broke open his mask and…" Ahsoka swallowed. "I couldn't lie to myself any more. I knew." 

"And you still fought him. Even though…even though he was important to you." 

Ahsoka nodded. "I didn't win." 

"Sometimes you don't." 

Rey's voice was so knowing that Ahsoka turned and gave her a level look. "And does a historian know about that? For that matter, what kind of historian goes to Malachor?"

Rey looked at Ahsoka, sighed, and gestured to the bartender for another refill for both of them. "I'm Rey."

"I did know that." 

Rey gave Ahsoka an exasperated look. "I'm getting there. Okay. So, Vad—Anakin. He had two kids, right?" 

"You're not Anakin's grandkid," Ahsoka said, suddenly alarmed. 

"No, I mean," Rey wrinkled her nose. "No. I can't rule it out, because I don't know exactly who my parents were, but it doesn't feel right. But it's still important. Of those two kids, Luke became a Jedi. He did his best to rebuild the order and use the power in a way the old Jedi would have approved of. Mostly. With some improvements."

"Force knows they needed them." 

"Right," Rey said with sudden excitement. "You _know!_ You...oh I have a million questions for you. Okay. Pitchock says in his Fourth Meditation that—" 

Ahsoka held up her hands. "Finish your introduction!" 

Rey visibly reined herself in. "Right. Right. So. Luke tried to be a Jedi. Leia wasn't so excited about that. But Leia had a kid." 

"Who isn't you," Ahsoka said, compelled to reassure herself. 

"All evidence points to no. His name was Ben."

There was an all-to-familiar ache in Rey's voice. Ahsoka's jaw tightened, hoping the story wasn't headed the direction she thought it was going to. 

"Ben…he came under the influence of a Dark Force user."

Ahsoka sighed. 

"Yeah," Rey said softly, "I suppose you can guess what happens next. He slaughtered Luke's temple." 

"Kriff. That's—" Ahsoka swallowed, grief for the home she had left rising again. "Were you a student?"

Rey shook her head. "I didn't...there aren't people around anymore, figuring out if someone can use the Force. I didn't know what I was, who I was, until long after all that had happened."

Ahsoka's eyes tightened. "You may want to be grateful for that. After the Empire rose there were plenty people looking for Force-sensitive. Just no-one you'd want to meet."

Rey's gave a twisted smile. "Not nearly as many, but there were still enough. The first person I met who could tell who I was…was Ben. Who by that time had joined the First Order and was going by the name Kylo Ren."

Ahsoka winced. "That doesn't sound good. First Order? Is that some sort of messed-up Jedi knockoff?"

Rey blinked, then gave a short laugh. "It's actually refreshing, talking to someone who has no idea. For your reference they're...more like a messed-up Empire knockoff. Complete with Force-sensitive bastards in charge." Rey swallowed, and finished the rest of her shot in one quick gulp. 

Rey didn't seem to be done with her story, but she wasn't saying anything else, either. She absent-mindedly played with her glass. After the silence stretched too long, Ahsoka said, "You escaped, I take it."

Rey sighed. "I did. And then I went and found Luke, off where he was hiding."

Ahsoka shook her head, and gestured for more alcohol. Once they both had refills, Ahsoka said, "Exile, really? You're sure this was Anakin's kid? I guess the dramatic, impulsive genes skipped a generation."

Rey snorted, reaching for the glass. "I don't know, Leia's told me some stories. He was apparently fairly dramatic back in his day. But losing the temple...it broke him, I think. By the time I found him he was bitter and hurt and he had cut himself off from the Force." 

Ahsoka shivered. Even at her most lost, she couldn't imagine making that decision. The Force was...life. It was a part of her. She lived and breathed it; it bound her to the universe. She would sooner consider going without the air than going without the connection. "That's terrible." 

"It was," Rey said, "I think Anakin's legacy affected him more than he realized. He was so determined not to go the way of his father, he thought that was better." 

Ahsoka winced. "I still can't believe he fell." At Rey's look of disbelief, she felt her shoulders tighten. "I know it's been decades for the rest of the galaxy, but I found out just a few hours ago! It hasn't sunk in yet." 

Rey reached out and covered Ahsoka's hand with her own. Ahsoka looked up, and found kind brown eyes looking sympathetically over. Ahsoka felt her stomach twist, bitterness and gratitude melting together in strange ways. "I'm sorry," Ahsoka said, "I know nobody terrorised by evil wants to think of it as sympathetic." 

Rey squeezed Ahsoka's hand. "He was redeemed."

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow. 

Rey colored slightly and pulled her hand back. Ahsoka was oddly inclined to chase it, wind her fingers back through Rey's again. She gripped her glass instead, eyeing her hand with suspicion. 

Her thoughts on perhaps-too-far lowered inhibitions were cut off when Rey said, "At the end, Luke reached out to him. Vader killed the Emperor rather than let Luke die." 

Anakin gripped her glass harder, fighting tears that had suddenly decided to come calling. "That sounds more like him. It's good to know that...I don't know. It's just good to know. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Rey gave a lopsided smile. "I do wonder, if he'd been around, what he would have said about his son's decisions." Rey paused for a moment. "And for that matter, his grandson’s." 

Ahsoka grunted. "He was a good teacher, before. If he went back to the light, I like to think he would have been again. You know, he said to me once, 'You wouldn't make it as Obi-Wan's pupil, but you might make it as mine." Ahsoka gave a bitter smile. "I suppose neither of us made it, in the end." 

"Or you both did." Rey nudged Ahsoka with her elbow. "I mean, you're here. Sure it's not what you expected your future to look like, and nothing turned out like you hoped it would, but we're here. That's got to count for something." 

Ahsoka raised her glass. "To something." 

Rey clinked her own against it, and they both sipped. 

"You know what's terrible?" Ahsoka said as the warmth of the alcohol slid into her belly, where it kept the rest of the alcohol company. "All this, and the part that I'm angriest about is the fact that it wasn't me. If there was some part of Vader that could have been saved, it should have been me to save him."

"I tried to save Ben." Rey said, so quietly Ahsoka almost missed it. "I went to find Luke, and I fought so hard to convince Luke that I wasn't going to be another Ben. But then...stuff happened. And I thought I could reach him. I almost did. He killed his master rather than kill me. We fought side-by-side...for about four minutes. And then, standing proudly next to Snoke's corpse, the _bastard_ decided he'd rather have an Empire than go back to the light." Rey was getting louder as she spoke, rounding on Ahsoka with her final, furious declaration of, "Some people don't want to be saved." 

Ahsoka gave a quick glance around the room, finding more than a few heads turned their way. She gave them what she hoped was a reassuring smile and put her hand on Rey's back. "You're scaring the civilians," she said in an undertone. 

Rey glanced around the room and gave a short wave. "We're fine," she sheepishly told the onlookers. 

Ahsoka watched as three of the patron's eyes widened, one of them turning to their companions and starting to whisper. Rey noticed it too, her face falling. "We should probably get out of here," Rey said. 

"So," Ahsoka said when they stepped out into the night, "you're famous?" 

A light drizzle greyed out the world. The street was lined with floating globes of light, they caught the nearly-fog, nearly-rain and cast haunting shadows and odd reflections. Rey glanced around the street and started striding down it. Ahsoka hurried after. Rey wound her way through three side-streets before she slowed. 

"Basically," Rey said. "People don't assume it's me unless I'm waving the lightsaber around. Or, apparently, when I start ranting about Snoke in a bar." Rey glanced up at her. "I feel like you should know, this isn't normal for me. I'm normally very good at—"

"Repressing?" Ahsoka asked, wryly. "I think it's safe to say that we have some unusual overlap in life experience that may bring a few things up." 

Rey stumbled, looked over at Ahsoka, then burst out laughing. Ahsoka watched her for a couple seconds, then started laughing too. She couldn't help it. It was just so ridiculous. What were the chances that she would be woken up again by the only other woman in the universe (still alive) that had thrown herself against the bulwark of a Skywalker and had only gotten bruises for her trouble? Out of the trillions upon trillions of sapients in the galaxy there should have been no chance at all. 

But the Force was involved, bitch of a cosmic power that it was, which probably meant that Rey was the only one that _could_ have woken her up, really. 

Once the worst of the hysteria had passed, Rey, wiping her eyes, looked up at Ahsoka. Ahsoka took a deep breath, and grinned down at Rey. "I think I needed that," Ahsoka admitted. 

"Me too," Rey admitted. "It was either laughing or crying, and I feel like I've done enough crying recently." 

"So," Ahsoka asked, "is your Skywalker still out there? I mean..." Ahsoka glanced back the way they came. "Are we going to have to worry about him—"

"Oh!" Rey shook her head quickly. "No. I couldn't save him, but I did handle him. Kylo Ren is no more, the First Order is decimated, peace is returned to the galaxy, all that."

"But how did—" 

"They're working on the histories now, there'll probably be a good version in five years or so, if you can wait that long," Rey snapped, full of a defensive weariness that Ahsoka knew all too well. Almost immediately after the words it seemed like she regretted them, her stance softening as she said, "I'd rather not...dwell on that, if you don't mind." 

"Of course." Ahsoka hunted around for a change of topic. "Do you mind if I impose on your charity for the night? I was hoping I could sleep in your shuttle. Tomorrow I can piece back together how to become properly alive again, but..." 

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm getting us both hotel rooms." Rey put her hands on her hips, glaring up at Ahsoka stubbornly. "I still have questions for you. I'm sick and tired of having people with more Force experience than I do refuse to help me because they have low self-confidence. Or an irritatingly high desperation to remain an enigma. Or a general lack of interest in the whole thing." 

"You've had a frustrating time of things…out of curiosity, which one do you think I am?" 

"I'm just going to play it safe and not let you get away with any of them." 

Ahsoka grinned. "Understood. A hotel room sounds lovely. And while I'm no Jedi...I certainly wouldn't mind answering a few questions. 

Mollified, Rey ducked her head. "Good...that's good."

* * *

Rey bought them both a room, but they wound up in Rey's, sitting cross-legged on the bed, a large bottle of something that was labeled with a Hoosa pear and smelled of snubfighter fuel mixed with caramel. Rey didn't blink when she took a swig, and passed the bottle over to Ahsoka. 

Ahsoka shrugged, taking her own drink. 

It didn't taste bad. It didn't taste of anything much, other than the burning. 

"Alright, I have a proposal," Rey said, settling back against the wall. "I have questions about Force things and the Jedi order, and I'm certain you have questions about…all of recent history. Let's trade. One question at a time."

Ahsoka considered this. "Any topics I should stay away from?" 

Rey shrugged. "Suppose we'll find out. Refusal to answer means the asker gets another question. You go first." 

"Deal." Ahsoka tried to figure out if she had any really pressing questions. "Are there still Togruta?"

Rey blinked at the question. "Yes? I feel like I should elaborate but I don't really know why you'd ask that." 

"The Emperor really didn't like nonhumans. And even without a planet-killer…" Ahsoka rubbed at her breastbone, trying to chase the ache that had opened in her chest. "Guess I just wanted to know if I was always going to be a stranger." 

"Oh." Rey opened her mouth, then closed it again. After thinking for a moment, she said, "No, the Togruta weren't exterminated. There still seem to be a lot around. We could probably find a population center, if you wanted to reconnect." 

"No." Ahsoka licked her lips, taking another swig before passing the bottle back. "I was never all that well connected with them. I left them for the Jedi. The Jedi were my people, after that. I left them too…" Ahsoka sighed. "Then the Rebellion were mine. Suppose I've left them as well." Ahsoka gave a crooked grin. "Guess I can't be too upset at ending up alone, considering I'm the one that keeps leaving." 

"I'm fairly certain winding up stranded on a creepy dead planet doesn't count as leaving," Rey said, arching her eyebrow. "That one's not on you." 

"What a relief," Ahsoka said, dryly. She shook her head, not really wanting to discuss it further. She had a feeling poking that particular bruise would just end in tears. "Your turn." 

"Okay." Rey furrowed her brows, saying nothing. And nothing. And still nothing. 

Ahsoka shifted. 

"Sorry," Rey said, seeing her movement. "I just have a thousand questions, and I'm trying to figure out what the most important ones are. I don't want to waste my chance." 

There was something young and hurt in her voice, and it made Ahsoka remember being young and burning—with passion, down bridges—trying to find the place she belonged before she lost every person that cared about her. "Ask the dumbest question," Ahsoka said. 

Rey blinked. 

"Don't try to ask the best question. Ask the dumbest one you can think of. And then try to trust that I'll stick around until you find the important ones." 

"Ah." Rey smiled, and it was a shy, beautiful thing. "Well…" Rey shook her head, a slow grin growing over her face, she shifted, and Ahsoka's eyes were drawn to Rey's bare feet on the bed, her toes curling as she asked, "Have you ever made toast?" 

"Toast?" 

"With your lightsaber?" Rey's smile bloomed, and Ahsoka burst out laughing. 

"I…no. But that's only because after the Great Caf Steam Cloud I was forbidden to use my lightsaber on any food products." 

Rey's laughter was beautiful, clear and bright. "I hadn't tried that! It actually works really well for toast, if you move fast enough." 

Lightsaber cooking tips led to Ahsoka asking about modern food trends, which lead to Rey asking about communal meals at the Jedi temple, and at some point, the conversation wandered around to birthdays.

"Aw, kriff," Ahsoka said, staring at the bottle glumly. 

"Mmmm?" Rey asked. 

"I just realized I'll be celebrating my seventy-third birthday this year. I'm ancient."

Rey stretched out her leg and nudged Ahsoka's thigh with the balls of her feet. "Well, you look really good for seventy-two." 

Ahsoka gave Rey a narrow-eyed glare. "How old are you?" 

Rey grinned, baring her teeth. "Twenty-one." 

"You're a _baby._ " Ahsoka charged her voice melodramatic despair, stopping just short of bringing the back of her hand to her brow. 

"Now...hold on…" Rey said, fighting back giggles. She swallowed them, and put on a very serious face. "Alright, just wait a minute, how old were you before you got all time-frozen?" 

"Thirty-three." 

Rey blinked at her, her eyes going wide and sorrowful. "Oh, Ahsoka…" Ahsoka swallowed and turned away, only to hear Rey continue, "…thirty-three? You're _old_." 

Ahsoka barked a laugh, throwing a grin in Rey's direction. " _A baby._ " 

"This baby is a war veteran of a galaxy-wide conflict, thank you very much." 

"Yeah, well, so am I." 

They grew more serious, after that. They swapped some questions about their respective conflicts. Ahsoka learned a quick-and-dirty timeline of the New Republic's establishment, expansion, and explosion. The galaxy was still working on getting itself back together, Rey explained, before asking Ahsoka about the role of the Jedi in the Old Republic. Ahsoka, able to see between the lines to the very pressing reason Rey was asking, spent some time talking about what she had loved about the old temple, and what she thought went wrong. 

By that point, they were a third of a bottle down and things were starting to get a little blurry. It was probably that loosening of inhibitions that made Ahsoka blurt out let Ahsoka ask, for her next question, "Do you know who Ezra Bridger is?" 

Rey shook her head slowly. "He's…in the old Rebellion stories, right? Did you know him?" 

"He saved me," Ahsoka said, and then the whole story came tumbling out, derailed about five times by Rey's excited chattering about what the temporal implications of the Force were. Ahsoka got swept up in the theorizing, but eventually circled around to finish her story, "I promised I'd find him. Suppose that's going to be harder now." 

Rey ran her bottom lip over her teeth as she thought. "I can see if we have any leads. I've got a few connections. We can figure out what Ezra was doing when he disappeared, see what we can confirm." 

"Thank you," Ahsoka said, swallowing around a lump in her throat, "I'd like to try to keep that promise." 

Rey cocked her head, looking at Ahsoka. "Tell me about them?" 

"That's your question?" Ahsoka asked. 

Rey nodded, grabbing a pillow and shifting to a more comfortable position. 

Another third of a bottle slowly sank away as Ahsoka described Ezra, Kanan, Hera, all the rebels and spies that knew her both as friend and Fulcrum. She told the story backward, from them to Bail and Mon and the fledgling Rebellion, and then, more painfully, back to Padmé and Obi-Wan and then, haltingly, to Anakin. 

Rey listened, and it was the kindest gift she could have given. When Ahsoka ran out of words Rey scooted over, pressed up close against Ahsoka's side.

Relief, sudden and tangible, swept over Ahsoka, at the knowledge that she wasn't alone. She was out of place, _out of time_ , but she wasn't alone. She twisted, resting her forehead against the top of Rey's hair, grief and pain and joy all sweeping through her. 

Rey's arms wound around Ahsoka's waist. Ahsoka let herself collapse into Rey's arms, too woozy (from both emotion and ethanol) to hold herself together any longer.

She briefly worried about crushing Rey, who looked like some small slip of a thing. But her strength was undeniable, she supported Ahsoka's weight without any particular challenge. Ahsoka let herself relax. 

Rey slowly lowered them both down to the bed and Ahsoka let herself fall with Rey until she was laying down on her belly, half-on Rey, her head tilted so that she didn't stab or smother Rey with her lekku. It was outrageously intimate, and Ahsoka was so tired and lonely she couldn't bring herself to care. 

"Tell me about yours?" Ahsoka mumbled against Rey's shoulder. 

"Mine?" Rey asked softly. 

"Your people." 

After a moment, Rey said, "Of course." 

They lay there, tangled together, Rey's forearm trapped under Ahsoka's chest, but bent at the elbow so it still made an effort at tracing reassuring lines along Ahsoka's side and back. She talked as she moved, about Finn and Poe and Rose and Leia and Chewbacca, about Jakku where she had been alone, waiting for her parents that were never going to come. About the world that had insisted it had been waiting for her. And then, more haltingly, about the ones she'd lost, Luke who went to the Force to save her, Ben who she could never save. 

"Fuck it," Ahsoka said against Rey's neck, starting to come back to herself enough to wonder if maybe she should figure out how to get up and get back to her room. "It's not our job to save anyone. We just need to figure out how to live our lives." 

"Yes," Rey said with grim certainty. "It's why I'm out here, you know? They begged me to stay with the New Republic government as it was reforming, but...I couldn't! If I stayed with them I'd become them. I need to figure out who I am. What I want." 

"And what do you want?" Ahsoka asked, still lazy and refusing to get up. Somewhere in there Rey had started stroking one of her lekku, sending sparks of fuzzy comfortable pleasure up the tendril. Really, any moment now, Ahsoka would get herself up and drag herself off to her own room. But they were still talking, and it was rude to interrup— 

Rey's warm lips pressed against Ahsoka's forehead, startling Ahsoka out of that line of thought. Ahsoka jerked back slightly, and Rey leaned up, chasing her, capturing her lips in a proper kiss. Rey's fingers tightened against Ahsoka's lek, and Ahsoka groaned, unthinking, into the kiss. 

She opened her mouth, moving closer, shuddering with the sudden pleasure of it. Aches and pains and loneliness and grief fell away, practically nothing compared to the way Rey pressed against her, to the hands urging her closer, to the mouth taking her deeper. 

They kissed for seconds, for an eternity, Rey only breaking the kiss to shift her thigh between Ahsoka's legs. Ahsoka was given one blinding moment of pure bright pleasure that shocked her out of the _make out session_ that she had apparently fallen into.

Ahsoka reared back, and Rey, catching the look on her face, settled back against the bed. "Too much?" she asked, contritely moving her thigh.

Ahsoka did _not_ want to chase it. "What was that?"

"Answering your question," Rey said, looking unconcerned by Ahsoka's sudden withdrawal. "What do I want? Well, right then, I wanted to kiss you. You didn't seem to mind."

Rey looked so smug Ahsoka was filled with the desire to kiss her again, to wipe that expression off her face. She was certain that Rey wouldn't mind, either. She could sink into this thing, whatever it was, and forget how complicated the world was for a little while. 

Ahsoka sighed and pulled back. "I've either had too much alcohol for this, or not enough." 

She wanted to. Kriff, she wanted to. But she was still spinning loose and had no idea where she'd land, and Rey...

Rey was smiling. "I don't think you're really that drunk. I know I'm not." She rolled suggestively. 

Ahsoka groaned, backing up a little further. 

Rey stopped with a sigh. "But I suppose it has been a long day. Come on," Rey said, as she tugged Ahsoka back down. "You should get some sleep." 

Ahsoka thought that maybe she should argue. She didn't really feel like it, though. 

"I'll behave," Rey insisted, tugging on Ahsoka again. "Please, I'll just worry if I have to leave you alone." 

There wasn't anything left in Ahsoka that could deny herself the comfort of willing company. Ahsoka let herself be pulled down onto Rey. "I'll crush you," was her last defense, trying to wiggle to the side. 

"Nonsense," Rey said, and held tight. "I'm stronger than I look." She reached up, slowly stroking her hands down the outside of Ahsoka's lekku, then back up along her spine. 

Warm and content, Ahsoka drifted off to sleep. 

* * *

She woke up in very much the same manner, finding Rey only slightly shifted, wiggled out from underneath Ahsoka but still determinedly keeping an arm wrapped around her. Ahsoka blinked and watched the girl sleep, a slow inhale and exhale of breath. She looked freer, like this, the weight of her responsibilities slid off of her. 

Or maybe it was the fact that Ahsoka now knew that Rey was the sort of girl that could kiss as smooth as fine Chandrillian brandy, and burn as deliciously as fine Corellian whiskey. That wasn't the sort of person that had tied themselves so in knots over their destiny that they couldn't have a little fun. Ahsoka was drawn to it, she had to admit. 

Ahsoka closed her eyes, reaching out with her other senses, finding the Force-song, the resonance with the universe that had always called to her. She relaxed into it, reaching out, finding the feeling of her current bedmate. 

Rey sounded of sorrow, more tempered than she showed on the outside, Ahsoka could read the cracks where she had broken, re-healed stronger. And yet, she was still so bright, a core of pure strength running through her, the sweet song of hope her dominant theme. She had suffered, true, but she refused to fall, she was tenacity and stubbornness and grit defined. 

Ahsoka was drawn to her. Had knew her less than a day but she trusted her. Rey felt like no Jedi Ahsoka had ever met, but maybe that's why she was so compelling. Ahsoka had enough of Jedi. She was ready for something new. 

And then, with a flutter, Rey pushed back, and Ahsoka could feel the sense of Rey falling over her own form, tracing Ahsoka's edges. Ahsoka slowly opened her eyes, and found Rey's bright eyes looking at her, a slight smile on her face. 

"Good morning," Rey said, her presence brushing once more against Ahsoka before she withdrew. 

"Morning." Ahsoka slowly drew herself back in as well. 

"I like the way you feel," Rey said, sleepily.

Ahsoka snorted. 

"I mean in the Force," Rey grumbled. "I haven't had the chance to know that many other people strong in the Force that aren't new to their powers or hiding them. You feel nice." 

"You...feel nice too," Ahsoka said, nearly biting her tongue to keep from laughing. "I've never known a Jedi to have a presence that felt like yours."

"Probably because I've never known any other Jedi," Rey pointed out. She yawned, then stretched, a sinuous movement that brushed her up against Ahsoka again. 

Ahsoka, flushing as the previous night's temptation raised it's hopeful head again, shied back. 

Rey blinked, then wiggled a little more, and winked. Fortunately, after that, she started crawling out of bed and Ahsoka managed to keep herself from reeling Rey back in again. 

Instead, Ahsoka untucked herself, picking her way upright. She wrinkled her nose down at her very lived-in clothes. She was going to need to figure out how to replace them sooner or later. She couldn't keep imposing on Rey's hospitality. 

All the worries that she had shoved aside the night before came surging up, she had slept for thirty-nine years and the world had changed around her. She had no idea how to even start doing what needed to be done. 

Ahsoka scrubbed a weary hand across her face. "What am I going to do now?"

Rey looked up at Ahsoka, seriously. "Whatever you want." 

Ahsoka gave her a flat look. "I'm still going to need credits." 

Rey smiled. "That can be handled. I've got more credits than I know what to do with, and the New Republic owes me even more." 

"Still..." Ahsoka gave the window a helpless gesture. "The world's changed." 

"It's changed for all of us. The First Order burned so much of the galaxy to the ground. Nobody knows what comes next. It's up to us to choose what to build in the ashes." 

"Is that why you're pretending to be a historian?"

"I am a historian." Rey gave a lopsided smile. "Working on a degree and everything. Galactic hero-ing only gets you so far in respectability after all. The halls of power like seeing letters after your name." 

"I'll keep that in mind," Ahsoka said. "Still, you're wandering. And you don't have to be." 

"It's true." Rey walked over to the window and braced her hands against the sill, looking out. "But there's so much galaxy I haven't seen. There's so many questions. I want to learn them all." 

"Don't you mean learn all the answers?" Ahsoka joined Rey at the window. 

"The answers will find me if they find me," Rey said, an ancient serenity in her voice. "It is the asking that's important." 

Ahsoka leaned back and looked at Rey. "Well, you're going to be a great Jedi. Already so perfectly infuriating." 

Rey grinned and clasped her hands in front of her, giving a short bow. 

Ahsoka stepped up. "No, like this." She put her hands on Rey's lower back, adjusting her posture. "Shoulders straight, from the core." 

Rey bowed again, nearly perfect this time. Ahsoka didn't move her hand, letting it linger along the knobs of Rey's spine. Rey caught her eyes and held them, stepping slightly closer. 

"Perfect," Ahsoka said into the heavy silence. 

Rey kissed her again. This time, Ahsoka didn't have the luxury of alcohol to deny her emotions. She wanted the kiss, she wanted _Rey_. It didn't feel like Rey was the best thing about a bad situation, it felt like Rey was the reason she had been pulled across time in the first place. She felt like her heart had existed to meet Rey, and now that they had found each other, she had no intention of letting go. 

She also realized she had known Rey for all of a day, and it was a little too soon to be thinking like that. 

Still, when Rey said, as inevitable as the tide's return, "Come with me?" Ahsoka knew there was only one answer she could give. 

"Yes." 

**Author's Note:**

> And then they travel the galaxy together, and have awesome duels, where Rey's lightstaff takes on Ahsoka's dual wielded sabers (aka the sparring session I had in my head that didn't quite work for the shape of the fic) (but please join me in imagining them all buff and sleeveless, breathing heavily and grinning at each other).


End file.
